40 | FLIGHTPATH
spraying operations, they ultimately proved
to be poorly adapted for the task and both
were de-registered in April 1956 and later
dismantled at Moorabbin Airport, Victoria.
Several other companies also attempted
to use Wirraways for agricultural uses or pi-
lot training after purchasing them as dis-
posals, however the Department of Civil
Aviation was unreceptive to the use of ex-
military aircraft for civil operations. Despite
being demonstrably airworthy after a long
military career, there was no established
method of documenting this fact according
to civil airworthiness standards, hence the
reticence of the DCA. The stall/spin charac-
teristics of the design were also held up as a
reason for not allowing private owners to
operate Wirraways.
Starting the Warbird Movement
Contrary to some reports, the Wirraway was
not the first ex-military aircraft to be oper-
ated on the civil register. But they were cer-
tainly among the earliest entrants onto the
civil aviation scene as ‘warbirds’.
The first Wirraway to be restored to air-
worthy condition took to the air on 4 De-
cember 1975 at Moorabbin in the hands of
former RAAF pilot Jock Garden. A crowd of
around 20,000 people witnessed its first pu-
bic display at Point Cook three days later.
VH-BFF was constructed by Graham Schutt
and Ron Lee using spare parts acquired
from CAC along with the wings and cowl-
ings from A20-570 and an engine purchased
from Harry Wallace. Richard Hourigan car-
ried out the electrical work for the restora-tion. Although the aircraft adopted the
identity of A20-653 BF-F of No. 5 Squadron,
it did not contain any original parts from
that aircraft – that machine had actually
been disposed of in Papua New Guinea.
Schutt and Lee battled with bureaucrats
within the Department of Transport to en-
able the aircraft to be granted a certificate
of airworthiness in the private category, al-
beit with tight restrictions on how the air-
craft was operated. The aircraft continued
as a mainstay of the Australian warbird
scene, with David Lowy purchasing VH-
BFF from Malcolm Long in 1999 and donat-
ing it to the Temora Aviation Museum in
December 2000, where it continues to be a
regular airworthy display aircraft.
At the same time as VH-BFF was being
restored, the Australian Aircraft Restora-
tion Group were working to get A20-649
back into the air, with the work being car-
ried out at Point Cook. The registration VH-
WIR was allocated and the group battled
through the same bureaucracy that Schutt
and Lee had met. By 1984 the aircraft was
externally complete and was displayed at a
Tullamarine airport open day. However the
aircraft was sold to Kermit Weeks in 1988
before being granted a certificate of air-
worthiness. It was displayed for several
years at his Fantasy of Flight theme park
before being placed into storage, where it
currently remains – more recently joined by
a second machine (VH-BFO)The RAAF Museum’s static Wirraway, A20-687 on show at the 2005 Avalon
airshow. It is painted in the colours of A20-561 of 4 Sqn. [James Kightly]An attempted, and ultimately unsuccessful short cut to making an agricultural spray
aircraft, Wirraway A20-692 VH-SSF is seen here with re-purposed drop tanks and
centre-section spray booms. [ T h e Co ll e c t i o n p1171-1114]Paul Bennett taxying in at Echuca in
VH-WWY (A20-81) which is finished in
WWII colours of A20 -176. [Rob Fox]